Armies of Fantasy Warriors

So the Orc bowmens are done. Seen flanking the spearmen above. Currently the Orc swordmen are on the work bench and coming along fine.

When all Orcs from the starter box are done Im thinking I’ll improve their bases a bit, which right now are pretty plain.

Another weekend and some hobby getting done. The orc bowmen are coming along fine and the orc swordmen have been undercoated. Painting mono-pose miniatures is something I do like. Wouldn’t say I’m speed painting, but I’m not getting bogged down in details and dervish-swirling like poses. Don’t get me wrong, I do like dynamic miniatures too. But these Fantasy Warriors orcs are a delightful bunch to paint.

I’m going for an undercoat, a base color, a wash followed by a highlight as main painting techniques. Only exception so far is the orc skin, where I did a second layer of the base coat between the wash and the highlight. I’m hoping that gives the orc skin tone a bit more depth and definition.

I’ve been aiming for a more natural orc skin tone than the more common comic look of bright greens. Not sure how well I’ve succeded. I was trying to picture what orc skin would look like if they were real and lived in mountains, forests and dungeons. But I think my highlight is a bit too bright for an entirely natural look, and I figure they would be more dirty. Still I’m happy with the way they look. I’ll try to do a step-by-step guide when painting the Orc swordmen.

Another weekend and some hobby getting done. The orc bowmen are coming along fine and the orc swordmen have been undercoated. Painting mono-pose miniatures is something I do like. Wouldn’t say I’m speed painting, but I’m not getting bogged down in details and dervish-swirling like poses. Don’t get me wrong, I do like dynamic miniatures too. But these Fantasy Warriors orcs are a delightful bunch to paint.

I’m going for an undercoat, a base color, a wash followed by a highlight as main painting techniques. Only exception so far is the orc skin, where I did a second layer of the base coat between the wash and the highlight. I’m hoping that gives the orc skin tone a bit more depth and definition.

I’ve been aiming for a more natural orc skin tone than the more common comic look of bright greens. Not sure how well I’ve succeded. I was trying to picture what orc skin would look like if they were real and lived in mountains, forests and dungeons. But I think my highlight is a bit too bright for an entirely natural look, and I figure they would be more dirty. Still I’m happy with the way they look. I’ll try to do a step-by-step guide when painting the Orc swordmen.

So, it all started with me seeing an ad in the rpg magazine Sinkadus, or so I thought. I have a memory of an ad in which the front cover of the box is in the middle and is flanked by an orc spearman and a dwarf crossbowman. Therefore, I set out to find the ad in my old Sinkadus magazines. Turns out there is no such ad. There are only two ads that entirely consist of text descriptions of the game before and after its release in Sweden. However, in Sinkadus 32 (Okt 1991) I found a miniature painting article with a dwarf crossbowman in it. This might have been the article that sparked my interest in Fantasy Warriors.

On the same page there is an ad for an upcoming miniature release of Mutant 2089 miniatures. This is the only mentioning of these miniatures and nothing would come of them as far as I know. I’ve only been able to identify the guy with a long coat and blue skin. He (3005a) is from the Cyberpunk miniatures range that was licensed to R. Talsorian Games and their Cyberpunk 2020. From the description of the upcoming miniatures, including guitar wielding and suitcase carrying characters, I suspect that the Future Warriors range might also have been a potential source. The agreement between Grenadier and Adventure Games ended some time later. In Sinkadus 35 (April 1992) it was announced that Heartbreaker was the new miniature supplier for Adventure Games and Mutant Chronicles was slowly rising on the horizon. Adventure Games would also change to Target Games.

The painting article of Fantasy Warriors is a basic description of batch painting tips. Paint 5-10 models at a time, focus on contrasting colors, don’t mind details like eyes (unless painting red orc eyes) and varnish the miniature to avoid paint chipping off. The probably weirdest tip is (my translation): “If you don’t have the energy to put grass on all the bases then you can paint them green or black instead. Black contrasts very good against the miniature”. I think I’ll just stick to my grass basing.

Inspiration wise for my dwarves there is not much to go on, except a light brown and the red lining along the chainmail. I wasn’t imagining my dwarves to have red as a main color. However, I do want the presentation of Fantasy Warriors in Sinkadus to somehow influence my hobby project. Enter my narrative from Dragons and Demons world of Ereb Altor.

The dwarves of Ereb Altor can be found all over the continent of Ereb. They have a major settlement in the eastern Aidne mountains which is from where my army will come. The largest dwarven holds can be found in the Grynner mountains that lie further to the east. Due to the increase of orcish raids the Aidne mountain dwarves have hired a company of crossbowmen, the Iron Bolts, from the Grynner mountains and the dwarven kingdom of Tarat-Khon. The Iron Bolts are renowned all around the Copper Sea for their accuracy and sturdiness in the face of the enemy, made famous after the siege of Bedorum in Hynsolge. The chainmail of the Iron Bolts is lined red signifying the blood of their felled foes.

Since I have more than the 17 crossbowmen dwarves of the Fantasy Warriors box, I will make an extra unit that will be the Iron Bolts. They will be painted as close to the painting article in Sinkadus as a homage to the inspiration that started this project. However, they won’t have black bases.

As Easter is ending the first unit of Orc Spearmen are done. There are 16 of them, although the original Fantasy Warriors came with 17. However, I’ll be complementing them with unit command figures and the missing 17th Orc later.

The Orcs are standing in front of the very first scratch built buildings I did in the early 90s. The yellow cottage is modeled after a house in a White Dwarf if memory serves. The barn I did on inspiration.

Speaking of memory, I’ve tried to find the ad I saw for Fantasy Warriors. I found articles about the game but none that look like what I remember. But, more on that later. I’m thinking I’ll also dive a bit into some history of the Fantasy Warriors game too. So I’ll aim to make a project  a bit wider than just painting old minis.

After mustering the minis that I got in the Fantasy Warriors box, there are a few missing to reach the 102 announced on the box cover. But no worries, since I had this project in mind even before aquiring the Fantasy Warriors box I had already ordered 1 bag each of the EM4 plastic orcs and dwarfs. These are the original Copplestone orcs from Grenadier.

With an early jumpstart of the project, I already have 16 Orc spearmen that just need some basing before being done. Im pretty happy with them, and I think the color scheme will work fine for the Orc army. It also matches my old GW 4th ed plastic goblin spearmen and archers.

Most of the models I aquired were unpainted, although a few are now taking a bath in T-red the swedish solution to old paint removal. There are a few broken spears and other bits so Im thinking I’ll convert those models to be standard bearers and warmachine crews.

Most of the dwarves were in a better state. Still a few missing to make the original 51 dwarves. They will be getting reinforcements from the purchase mentioned above. Have to start thinking about a color scheme for them. In an old Sinkadus (old swedish rpg magazine) there is a paint tutorial featuring a Fantasy Warriors dwarf crossbow man. Thinking I’ll have that as inspiration.

With my first copy of the rpg Dragons and Demons, THE swedish fantasy rpg in the 80s and 90s, I got paper standees and two gridded gameboards. In 1990-91 Äventyrsspel started selling Grenadier’s fantasy miniatures at a pace of releasing 48 new miniatures about every 3 months. I was hooked, but my pocket money limited the amount I could afford. The grenadier miniatures were my first fantasy miniatures.

This project is a mix of my very first fantasy miniatures and newly acquired old Grenadier fantasy miniatures and new miniatures of the old sculpts (from Em4, Forlorn Hope and Mirliton). It is also return to the swedish rpg-world of Ereb Altor which is the setting where I imagine my armies. The Orc armies control by the Witchmaster of the Black Tower and the Dwarfs from a Dwarven Hold in the Aidne Mountains.

Just south of the Aidne Mountains lies Zorakin, a land of knights and chivalry. I have started painting on one of my first knights. He will most probably be from one of the knightly orders protecting Zorakin from the orcs in the Aidne Mountains and in the forest that dominates one of the country’s two peninsulas.